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‘Independent Scotland can have oil fund’

Petrofac shares were boosted by more than 7% on Friday
Petrofac shares were boosted by more than 7% on Friday

Finance Secretary John Swinney has insisted that an independent Scotland could afford to pay into an oil fund without cutting spending or raising taxes.

But he refused to outline exactly how much money would be invested in the first two years of a new state’s existence.

The minister was challenged on the point yesterday after he claimed a UK Government decision in the 1970s to ignore advice to set up an oil fund provided further evidence of the “mismanagement” of Scotland’s oil and gas resources.

Mr Swinney said Norway had an oil fund which was worth £500billion but a “yes” vote would enable Scotland to take advantage of the tax take on about 24billion barrels of oil still to be recovered.

“If Scotland had established an oil fund in 1980, it could have eliminated its share of UK public sector debt by 1982-83 and could have accumulated substantial financial assets of between £82billion and £116billion by 2011-12,” he added.

Former Labour leader Iain Gray said Gavin McCrone, former chief economic adviser to the Scottish Office, had effectively told MSPs last week that diverting oil revenues to an oil wealth fund in 2014 would require swingeing cuts in public expenditure.

The opposition MSP asked: “Is that the cabinet secretary’s plan?”

Mr Swinney said it wasn’t and claimed his opponent was ignoring the fact that Scotland was in a stronger financial position than the rest of the UK, to the tune of £8.3billion.

“That opens up choices as to whether we reduce debt faster, invest more in public expenditure and public services, or invest in a long-term oil fund,” added the minister.

“The key point is whether we decide to take our future in our own hands or whether we leave it to the UK Governments that have made such a mess of the public finances.”